Artifacts of Life

The plight of Mr. and Mrs. Frost.

Meeting up with Mr. Frost in the morning, our party is introduced to an associate of the man, Aeromathus the Barbarian. Little is known about him, but he seems a bit gruff to be a direct acquaintance of Frost. The party was offered anything that they might need by Artigan Frost before they were supplied with horses and sent on their way. They encountered trouble not terribly far into their journey when they were ambushed by a pack of Kobolds. The scuffle that ensued did nothing if not bring the group closer together in their cooperation. With their bags a little heavier, the party continued on to the Silk Fortress in search of the Silk Tapestry of Lese.

Reaching the fortress presented no other difficulties, but after exploring only a few rooms, the party was thrown into a close encounter with several Drakes. The beasts, not being terribly intelligent, attacked the first thing they saw: The Paladin. Though he took a beating, he served admirably as a distraction for both the Cleric and the Barbarian who tore away at the beasts, immediately bloodying all of them after their first strikes. The Drakes were fallen with a great effort, and our party now rests while considering which of the doors in front of them they should open first.

Our heroes set forth from Hightower Tor to Rothholme. They decide to stop for a midday rest, but they see that another group had the same idea: Hobgoblins! After a quick scuffle, the picnickers went down with the exception of one. A Hobgoblin Soldier was the only one to escape with his life. Finding nothing important in their belongings except some coin and a set of carpentry tools, the party moves on.

Shortly after nightfall, as the party prepares to rest, they come upon an entire camp of goblins. Though it looks guarded enough, a well placed ghost sound distracts the guards on post so that everyone can slip by. Although the first tent the Wizard looked into turned up nothing too exciting, the second tent was full of plans and maps, as well as the goblin leader, who was nearly awoken. Too dark to read the plans now, the group continued to search tents. They ransacked the supply tent for rope, rations, and Thieves’ Tools, and were nearly caught again, as they stumbled upon some goblins preparing for duty. They slipped away and hid in the supply tent, foolishly perhaps, because the oncoming guard entered and nearly caught them for a third time. The Wizard cast another ghost sound, luring the guardsmen away once more.

After searching the final tents, the Wizard sent to the rest of the team ahead while he torched the goblin camp, hopefully ruining whatever plans they had been making. After travelling well out of searching distance, the party finally makes camp and rests. In the morning, the Cleric using the powers of his Translator’s Ring and determines that the goblins had been planning on using Hightower Tor as a base for raiding the country side. The group thinks little of it, though the Paladin is concerned, and they continue on to Rothholme.

Upon reaching the town, the Paladin goes to meet with Artigan Frost to discuss the goblin problem. Mr. Frost wishes to hear more of the party’s discoveries, and invites them back later that evening. Until then, each of the adventurers carries out various errands in the city and they meet up back at the tavern, The Wanton Nymph. The hostess seems quite fond of Artigan Frost, though she seems almost fonder of the Paladin.

Evening arrives and the party goes to meet with Mr. Frost. Despite the threat of the goblin raids, Mr. Frost doesn’t seem terribly worried. He believes in the defences of the town, but he is worried about another thing. He believes his wife has been cursed, and employs our heroes to venture forth and find relics and artefacts that he might use to return her good health. He does not expect them to endure danger without a fine compensation and has ensured that he will reward them handsomely. They accept the deal, and he bids them to return in the morning, when he will have everything ready.

As our adventurers realized that the storm was upon them, they noticed the Tor in the distance. As it so happens, the Paladin knew this was Hightower Tor, an important stronghold in days long past, but now just a landmark for travellers. Recalling that a set of robbers dug a shaft into the Tor, the Paladin attempted to scale the tor and gain entrance from there. The feat proved difficult, however, as the rain and hail made the rocks too slippery to grip.

Entering the Tor, the party looks around and tries to open the doors, but finds all of them locked. Their attempts to break down the door fail, but the storm does the job, allowing the rats that have made the Tor their home access. Panicked, the Rat Swarm and Giant Ratsattack our adventurers. Taking minimal damage, the party dispatches the pests swiftly and move forward.

Barely upon entering the next room, the party is ambushed by Hobgoblin Grunt. Drawing on his arcane power, the Wizard incinerates the opposition, one by one. From the shadows, a Hobgoblin Archer strikes, but he doesn’t last long as the Wizard turns his focus upon him. Though the Hobgoblins don’t have much, one of them has a pair of Burglar’s Gloves that the Wizards takes as his reward for decimating the grave robbers.

Venturing on, our heroes take a detour down a narrow passageway. Though brave, our not too perceptive Paladin runs straight into a spider web, entangling himself and blocking the way. The real problem is the Deathjump Spider who makes its home in that web. Hopping around and attacking relentelessly, the Wizard finds it nearly impossible to escape. After a few hard hits, he finds himself on the verge of death and our Cleric helpless to stop it. It takes all they have to put the spider down, but they are rewarded with gold and a Belt of Vigor at the end of the tunnel. Putting on the belt, the Cleric leads the party on.

In the room at the end of the hall, our heroes notice gold scattered around the floor, but they don’t have a chance to take action before the corpses laid upon their final resting places rise to defend their treasure. A pair of Goblin Cutter Zombies rise to fight with their ancestral hero, The Dark Knight. Though the minions don’t seem to do much, the party is ravaged by The Dark Knight. The Cleric, though dealing heavy blows with his Radiant magic, is dropped by the master. Bruised and bleeding, the Cleric rises, and the battle is won, but not without much pain. The party takes the chance to rest up, setting the Eladrin Wizard on guard as he meditates.

Upon waking, the party collects their spoils in the form of gold and a Masterwork Longsword that the Paladin gladly collects. The Wizard, planning to restore it later, also takes the Dark Knight’s broken mace. With the storm still raging, our party returns to the entrance to explore the other rooms of the Tor. A treasure chest embedded in the floor greets them in the next room, and the Wizard carelessly opens it without caution. Daggers fly out from the chest, injuring the Wizard, but great treasure is inside as well. Gold and pearls are distributed and the Wizard takes the Headband of the Stout Heart inside.

The final room seems empty with the exception of a standing sarcophagus, but the party quickly finds this to be false as the skull from the tomb flies of, burning with green flame. The Paladin rushes forward, but the Wizard and the Cleric who are not so fast are blasted with a Flameskull’s Fireball. Though the skull seems strong, the Paladin repeatedly chases it down, pinning it in the corner and forcing it to focus only on him. Successive strikes from all three of our heroes eventually bring it down, disintegrating into dust. The party finds naught but a Translator’s Ring. As the heroes return to the entrance, they notice the storm has finally calmed down and they can venture forth once more.

And having a lot of fun

Well, putting this together had been tons of fun. I didn’t do all the work, and I give credit to WotC for posting this adventure on their site originally. I did have to do a bit of tweaking because the adventure was designed for Edition 3.5. It was challenging trying to balance everything out, but I had a lot of fun and I feel like I learned a lot in the process.